KIRKUS REVIEW

A cantankerous bear’s home is once
again wrested from his control.

Even though he’s a bear, Bruce
accompanies four geese south every winter for their yearly migration.
Personally he “would have preferred to hibernate,” but he’s their mom (Mother
Bruce, 2015). Returning one spring—on a bus, naturally—they discover that
mice have turned their (human-style) house into a woodland hotel. The ensuing
commotion includes possum pillow fights, a beaver eating at the table—well,
eating the table—a fox trying to coax turtle-guests into a pot of boiling water
(“It’s a bath!”), and a tourist bus full of elephants. As cheekily funny as the
illustrations are, even funnier is their juxtaposition with the often understated
narration. “It was a long night” shows Bruce in his one-bear–sized bed with
four unrelated animals—the porcupine wanting to snuggle, the rabbit needing to
pee—plus two of his own kids. When the mice-proprietors urge Bruce to
check out (“Our bellhops will see to your luggage”), Bruce’s own children—the
geese, who, though technically adults, act like toddlers—appear in bellhop
uniforms. Dialogue is in speech bubbles. With deftly drawn lines that vary from
bold to fine over tertiary colors, Higgins creates touchable textures
(wallpaper; hardwood floors) and hilarious facial expressions, including
Bruce’s perpetually scowling unibrow.

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